Elisabeth Furse

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Not to be confused with Elizabeth Furse.
Elisabeth Furse
Born
Louise Ruth Wolpert

(1910-08-30)30 August 1910
Königsberg, German Empire
Died14 October 2002(2002-10-14) (aged 92)
London, England
Resting placeBrompton Cemetery, London
Spouse(s)Bertie Coker
(m. 1934-?)
​
​
(m. 1939⁠–⁠1945)​

Patrick Furse
​
​
(m. after 1945)​
Children5, including Anthony Haden-Guest

Elisabeth Furse (30 August 1910 – 14 October 2002) was a Communist activist, World War II resistance escape route organizer, and London bistro proprietress.

Early life[]

She was born Louise Ruth Wolpert in Königsberg, East Prussia (now Kaliningrad), and brought up in Berlin. Her father, Paul Wolpert, was a Russian-speaking Latvian Jew and a wealthy textile merchant.[1] She was nicknamed "Lisl" by an aunt, from which she derived Elisabeth, the name she later adopted for herself.[2]

Political activist[]

As a teenager she joined the Communist Party, and in her early twenties collected money in France and England to help political refugees in Germany to escape the Nazis.

In 1934, she married Bertie Coker, a fellow Communist. It was a marriage of convenience for a new nationality and legal residence outside Germany, where her activities with the Communists put her at risk of arrest and execution by the Gestapo. She left the Communist movement in 1934.[2]

Second World War[]

Her second marriage was to Peter Haden-Guest. Their son, Anthony Haden-Guest, was born in 1937. The marriage was dissolved in 1945.[1]

Elisabeth was in France when war broke out. She made her way to Marseilles, where she joined MI9 and, with Ian Garrow, helped those opposed to the Germans escape occupied France via the Pat O'Leary Line escape route. Her group was eventually betrayed, and after her release she returned to London. She spent the rest of the war on the Devon estate of Patrick Furse, who was to become her third husband. They had four children.[3]

In 1953 she started The Bistro, behind London's Royal Court Theatre with her husband. Under her eccentric management, The Bistro became a regular haunt of various journalists, politicians, artists, and society figures, many of whom went on to become well-known public figures.[2][3]

Memoir[]

Furse wrote her life memoir, Dream Weaver, with the assistance of writer Ann Barr.[4]

Death[]

She died in 2002, aged 92, and was interred in Brompton Cemetery, London.

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b Mosley, Charles, ed. (2003). Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage. Vol. 2 (107th ed.). Wilmington, Delaware: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd. p. 1717. |volume= has extra text (help)
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Elisabeth Furse". The Daily Telegraph. 15 October 2002. Retrieved 13 January 2012.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b de Jongh, Nicholas (16 October 2002). "Obituary: Elisabeth Furse". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 January 2012.
  4. ^ "Dream Weaver / Elisabeth Furse and Ann Barr". National Library of Australia. 1993.

Bibliography[]

  • Furse, Elisabeth; Barr, Ann (1993). Dream Weaver. London, UK: Chapman. ISBN 1-85592-540-0.
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